This weekend my family was in town. Our niece, Mackenzie, was to be baptized on Sunday. Grandma, Mom and Dad had a hotel in North Branch while Kayli had opted to spend the night at “Hotel Bauer”.  On their way up they made a pit stop at our place Saturday afternoon and had planned to take me I out as an early celebration for my birthday. Since we knew they’d be stopping by Adam and I used this as a chance to officially tell them about our adoption.

We had wanted to tell them in person but didn’t think we’d have a chance to see them until after Easter. With this opportunity presenting itself we ceased the moment. Adam and I hid out adoption portfolio with all our information in plain site under a book on our coffee table. They all arrived around 3:30pm. We sat on the overstuffed sectional in our living room and chatted for a time about nothing in particular. Adam and I knew what we wanted to say but hadn’t rehearsed who was going to initiate the conversation.

Adam and I held hands, as we have done many times, to support one another and also to communicate.  While we don’t have an actual secret code we do give reassuring squeezes and pulses to let us know the other is here. A few times the conversation lulled and each of us thought that the other was going to start the announcement. Adam squeezed my hand as a nudge and I squeezed back. Finally Adam announced we were pursuing adoption.

We pulled out our adoption portfolio from under the book on the coffee table. We showed and explained about how we selected the agency, and how we completed our initial consultation and the next steps in our process. Needless to say Grandma, mom and dad were all very excited and supportive. It was exciting and emotional for everyone in the room.

Cracker Barrel Selfie (Grandma’s first)

Our conversation continued and before we knew it was time for supper. We made our way to Cracker Barrel. Their food was amazing. It was an enjoyable and memorable evening to celebrate not only my [early] birthday but the future for our family. Following supper Grandma, mom and dad departed for the remaining one hour drive north to their hotel. Kayli, Adam and I opted for some evening shenanigans at Mills Fleet Farm. A farm girl at heart it was fun to browse Case IH and John Deere apparel and toys. While most of the store is John Deere I’m partial to Case IH and we were excited to find it represented.

For Adam’s mom we were not able to connect in person. With crazy schedules and work commitments we decided to tell her jointly by phone. We called her twice on Saturday but received her voicemail. We attempted again in the early morning and using speaker phone shared the news that we would be adopting. She too was excited for us and we have no doubt will be an amazing grandma. It has been a long road to get to this point and we know we have much to still accomplish before we will hold our little one in our arms.  We are confident in God’s timing and are excited for our future little one to be surrounded by all the people we love.